Dadaepo Beach Summer Sea Festival

Dadaepo Beach Summer Sea festival took place at all the areas that are considered as Dadaepo Beach—the beach, park, water fountain and coast side with many cafés and restaurants. The event was held from July 26th to July 28 2024.

Table of Contents

Itinerary

Friday 7.26.

Festival for Disabled Citizens 11AM–2PM
Food Trucks 12 noon–11PM
Pool Party 7PM–10PM

A stage was installed at the Dadaepo beach and pools filled with water reaching around your your butt were placed all around the front side of the the stage, creating a literal pool party at the beach. Many people gathered despite cloudy weather to sing along Korean artists such as Swings, or Han Yo-han. A firework show was originally planned for Friday evening but it was moved to Sunday due to strong wind and anticipated rain.

Saturday

Food Trucks 12 noon–11PM
Water Stage 3PM–4:30PM
Sunset Surfing 4PM–8:30PM
Salsa Dancing at the Beach 5PM–10PM
Hidden Stage 4PM–11PM
Sunset Yoga 6PM–9:10PM
Music Stage 7 PM–9PM

The stages were alive thanks to Retro Girls or Na Tae-ju on this very hot Saturday. The highlight was the Salsa Dance Party in the sand for sure.

Sunday

Food Trucks 12 noon–10PM
Sunset Surfing 4PM–8:30PM
Water Stage 3PM–4:30PM
Hidden Stage 4PM–11PM
Sunset Yoga 6PM–9:10PM
Fork Concert 7:30 PM–8:40PM
Firework Show 8:30PM

The climax of the whole festival program was surely the anticipated firework show, which took around 20minutes. The firework seems to have originated from a ship on the sea but not only that, there were fireworks coming even from drones flying above the sea. Many people gathered near the sea but even those sitting at chairs on the beach could enjoy the show fully because all the lights were turned off for the period of the firework show which I think was an amazing touch.

Restaurant Receipt Event

All those who have a meal in any restaurant located in Dadae-dong area during this festive weekend and spend over 20.000KRW shall take their receipt!

It was possible to exchange the receipts received in local restaurants for small gifts near the Blue Square at Dadaepo Beach. The gifts in question were a “beer welcome drink” or a coupon for a photo.

Food Trucks and Tent Restaurants

We arrived with a plan to have both dinner and drink at the Dadaepo Beach but it was very crowded so we did not get to eat a proper meal but only what Koreans consider as “alcohol snacks”. Moreover, it was recommended to order food by scanning a QR code visible on many posters all over the beach area. Tents and chairs were provided for free at the beach but many people also spread blankets in the small forest connected wit the beach area getting some much needed shade.

Events of this scale usually take place in the Eastern parts of Busan, so it was very refreshing to have the Summer beach Festival in Saha-gu. Many people showed up so the atmosphere was fun, and I appreciated the “receipt event” as it was a cherry on top of already well-enjoyed weekend.

The weather, however, was really hot and we had an issue with being unable to borrow parasols that are otherwise easy to borrow when visiting Dadaepo Beach.

Furthermore, Saha-gu warned about traffic jams in the area starting 7PM Sunday evening and truth be told, there were no parking spots left and the streets were heavily blocked both before and after the firework show. Next time I would surely take subway to such event.